So we went bush... to the beach...

Saturday afternoon we packed Ruby up and headed to Southend, which is only 20 minutes from home.
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This was our maiden voyage in Ruby. We pulled the roof top tent out and pitched the rear tent.
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The weather was not that welcoming but it was sunny in patches (in between the sprinkles of rain). From where we made camp, the beach was only 50 paces away.
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All set up, we were quite pleased with the arrangement. We learned quite a bit, putting it up - this goes here, that goes there and is better if you put this on first.... that sort of thing. I kept saying "a lesson learned for next time".
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Hmm, those clouds look a little ominous! It's raining out to sea.
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The Southend rock lobster crayfishing fleet.
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More dark clouds...
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We camped in an open camp area (and in hindsight it was way too open and therefore windy) and paid $16 for the unpowered site. There were flushable loos about 200m down the track.
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The sea was a beautiful colour, considering there was no sunshine at this stage, only gathering dark clouds.
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All set up, we cooked a barbecue tea of lamb loin chops and I had bought 2 small salads with us. We had fried onions and a couple of leftover baked potatoes which I sliced up and fried with the onions.
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We dined like kings!
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Thankfully, Angus had rigged up a fluoro light so we were cosy in the tent, enjoying our dinner and wine.
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At about 9pm, Angus decided we would light a fire down on the beach (fire restrictions prevent us from lighting a fire after Nov. 1st in a bush setting but you can light a fire on a beach between high and low water mark at anytime of the year). Dessert was Cadbury Fruit n Nut chocolate - I kicked myself because I forgot marshmallows to toast! Duh!
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We finally ended up in our 'upstairs' bed and spent a cosy night although the wind blew and the tent flapped and kept waking me up. We need to modify the mattress because it felt like sleeping on a wooden door! More foam required, thank you!
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We had eggs and bacon for breakfast and a nice cuppa. Very civilized!
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Eggs & bacon (this was my second egg so most of the bacon was gone, and chargrilled toast - delicious!
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We boiled our 'billy' for our tea and coffee.
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I even took the 'kitchen sink'! This is a Hughie plastic sink, ideal for washing up & peeling vegetables inside at your own sink then you can discard the water on the garden and put the peelings in the compost - that's what it's designed for.
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The view of the bay after we packed up and headed for home. I hate unpacking! :(
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This is the first of many little weekend trips we hope to make in Ruby. We have a few things to perfect but we got a lot right this weekend.
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Cheers - Joolz